####ia and Argentina’s wins today in the Men’s Olympic semifinals set up a rematch of the 1996 Olympic finale. Twelve years ago, that was where a young man named Emmanuel Amuneke scored an unlikely winner to lead his team to an unexpected gold medal in Olympic play. It was also a vintage period in ####ian football, with Kanu, the Babayaro brothers, Jay-Jay Ockocha and Sunday Oliseh among the stars.  

Argentina weren’t slouches, either, with a star-studded lineup of Mathias Alymeda,  Roberto Ayala, Hernan Crespo, Ariel Ortega, Javier Zanetti and, oh yes, DC United midfielder Marcelo Gallardo, among others.

This China finale will see quite the trio in Juan Román Riquelme Javier Mascherano and Lionel Messi face up against a young group of ####ian players, many of whom are relative unknowns. Emmanuel Ekpo plays with Columbus here in the USA, but the best-known players would be Everton’s Victor Anichebe and Lokomotiv Moscow’s Peter Odemwingie.  

Can ####ia hang with the group that destroyed Brazil this evening? The African teams have a habit of peaking at the right time in this tournament, but on paper, this looks to be a very good Argentine side eager to make up for the Atlanta Games.

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The American women slogged to a 4-2 win over Japan Monday to set up their own rematch.  

The USA will face Brazil on Thursday, looking to win their second straight gold medal and get some revenge on a side that comprehensively beat them in the World Cup semis last year. In 2004, Abby Wambach — absent here — scored the winner to give the Americans the gold in Athens.

There’s quite a bit on the line: Last year, keeper Hope Solo’s post-game comments after the U.S. were eliminated saw her ostracized from the team, and contrary to the folk saying, time hasn’t healed jack. The Americans also will have to greatly improve their game if they hope to take down a Brazilian side that is faster, defter and looks just plain better.  

While the USA has managed to get away some of the negative things that came with Wambach as the target woman, they still rely too much on the long ball and their non-stop hustle to set up shots.  The defense has been scratchy, too, caught flat too often which could be a serious problem against the likes of Marta and her running mates.

Coach Pia Sundhage has managed to form a tighter midfield axis that tries to hold the ball and build out of the back, but the Americans have cruised on raw athleticism for so long that even basic tactics have largely eluded this bunch.  That’s been camouflaged since the Americans’ opener because of the lack of quality in women’s soccer in general, and the softness of their path in particular.  

One more note: The new Women’s pro league needs a gold medal win here for base publicity purposes. These women aren’t just playing for an Olympic gold — they’re playing for a professional future. That’s a lot of pressure, especially when you’re up against a good, cocky young team.

But here's one reason to think the US can get the job done: Brazil has not won a major women's final. They were beaten in Athens in 2007, and again last year in the World Cup final. That’s also a lot of pressure, even on a team as good as this Brazilian eleven.

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Some of you have wondered why the USA’s crests have been covered up during the Olympic games. Simple: Teams are not allowed to display Federation crests during the Olympics by IOC mandate because nations don’t compete at the Olympics, only athletes.

That’s a critical distinction: The team fielded is, technically, not the “U.S. men’s (or women’s) team,” it’s a “group of 18 Olympians.” Silly? Yeah, it is.

So, the USA covered up them logos. Some other teams haven’t, and supposedly they’ll be fined. But, they aren’t bidding to host the 2016 Games, nor are their Feds organized under the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1978.

Now, as for those Nike and Puma logos…

All across the world this morning, from homes and bars and even a sleek Chinese stadium you could hear a staccato, a dull thumping. That was the sound of American soccer fans' heads meeting the nearest hard object.
          
Today, the Americans hit a new low: Needing only a draw to progress to the quarterfinal round, they managed to lose the game, 2-1 to ####ia, instead. Playing 86 minutes plus stoppage time with ten men after Michael Orozco was bounced in the fourth minute for a needless elbow, the Americans were outplayed, outscored and out of luck.
          
There is a seething frustration that comes with being a modern American soccer fan, a subset of the species who root for their boys at ungodly hours of the morning in places they'll never lay eyes on and often come away shattered for it.
          
All the things that American fans have told themselves over the years would help their team have come true, after all. The players are full professionals, many playing at decent European teams; ten of millions of dollars have been spent on the sport's infrastructure; and the media — which once looked at the sport the way one espies a drooling madman in an alley — shows more soccer in the States than virtually anywhere else in the world.
          
And still, the Americans lose. Cue the drooping heads, wringing hands, stomping feet, and breakable objects.
          

Sadly, this Olympic performance was true to type for an American team that cannot seem to get past type. For years, the USA has been slowly improving in terms of raw talent, but remains deficient in execution and tactics. And while the Americans no longer look a hairs-breadth away from collapse at any given moment, as they did just ten years ago, the fact remains that they still cannot get over the hump.
          
This departure from China is especially painful, because for the first time the American men actually seemed to improve as a team as they went along.
          
Normally, the USA plays three distinct games — one average, one superb, and one stinker, in a row, but not necessarily in that order. This time around, the USA played their stinker first, dodging many bullets against a Japanese side that could do everything but score, and came away with the win in spite of it. Next, they played impressively against the Dutch, but threw away their quarterfinal berth due to problems of their own devise.
          
Tonight, the Americans came out looking solid. Despite not having Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley available, the team played brightly, with good wide play and the kind of heart and effort everyone knows the guys bring to the table.

“This is the worst feeling I’ve had as a professional athlete after a loss in a tournament because I couldn’t be out there with the guys," said Adu afterwards. "Watching from the stands, it wasn’t a great feeling."
          
It's the head they lack. That showed early when Orozco elbowed Solomon Okoronkwo on the touchline, with ref Wolfgang Stark getting a bird's eye view.
          
From that point on, the Americans had to retreat into a shell. Robbie Rogers was forced into an uncomfortable role at left back, and the ####ians danced through the flanks, finally breaking through in the 40th minute when Chinedu Obasi beat both Michael Parkhurst and Marvell Wynne to slot a cross to Promise Issac for the go-ahead goal. The hammer came down in the 80th when Victor Obinna again beat Parkhurst and Wynne to give Brad Guzan no chance.
          
The USA did fight back, with Sacha Kljestan sinking a late penalty kick after keeper Ambruse Venzekin felled Maurice Edu at the edge of the penalty area. And late sub Charlie Davies headed a free-kick served in by Dax McCarty onto the cross-bar in the dying seconds that would have been enough to take the Americans through.
          
Last but not least, the USA saw the back-door closed when Holland was awarded a penalty against Japan, which the Dutch converted, to win that game.
         
Once more, the Americans go home, and the rest of the world cheers. For a country so good at sports, the USA just cannot seem to grasp this simple game. And it hurts.

          
It is true that the USA team is better. But "better" isn't good enough.
          
To succeed the Americans are going to have to take the next, painful step and go outside the country for help with coaching and teaching and especially for the new ideas a fresh look would bring. Americans have been trying to tell themselves for years that we are producing coaches and administrators of quality, but it's not true. Were it, many Americans would be coaching top clubs overseas, and more teams would be looking to our nation for help improving the game.
          
At one point, "Americanization" was a useful fiction, but no more. U.S. Soccer is going to have to clean house from top to bottom and realize that producing raw talent isn't enough. It wasn't tonight in Beijing, and it won't be in Johannesburg.  

One last. late point: Nowak was quoted after the game as saying: "For me, they won a gold medal in this game tonight." A coach has to protect his players, but I hope he doesn't believe that.

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How did the American players end up faring?

Before the games, we told you what each player needed to show in China: Here's our winners and losers.
 
THE OVERAGE PLAYERS: All-in-all, a failure. Michael Parkhust was not effective enough on defense to justify his inclusion, and Brian McBride only had one really influential game. Guzan's role was iffy: He made some solid saves, but was he that much better a keeper that he justified keeping a midfielder off the roster? In the end, it's a toss-up — the USA surely could have used an Ante Razov or a Taylor Twellman in this tournament.

DEFENDERS: Orozco was the poorest defender on the team, and his foolish ejection cost the USA dearly. His international career may have taken a fatal hit in China. Marvell Wynne was in-and-out; his speed and passing remain good, but he gets beat too often on the flanks — a weakness Chinedu Obasi ably exploited today for the ####ians — that he has to be a big question mark as well. Maurice Edu, playing out of position, was serviceable, but not great. Patrick Ianni, for obvious reasons, gets no rating, same for keeper Chris Seitz.

MIDFIELDERS: Let's start with the good: Sacha Kljestan and Stuart Holden showed they are gamers. Kljestan was probably the best overall player the USA had during this three-game span and deserves the MVP honors. Holden had a solid, workmanlike tournament that wasn't flashy, but proved vital. The obvious black mark on him was the foul on Gerald Sibon that set up the tying goal for Holland.

Freddy Adu looked, once more, like the best player on the team… but when the so-called "big-time" player isn't in your biggest game, it's hard to give him the highest honors. Still, he's clearly the class of the squad. Michael Bradley's performance continues to tail off. Bradley faded in and out and never really seemed able to impose himself. Is he played out? Or, is he going through what so many Americans have before: One good season followed by mediocrity? Too early to tell, but there's no doubt about is his lack of maturity: taking a stupid caution for time-wasting in the dying seconds of the Holland game hurt his team badly.

Danny Szetela really didn't get much of a chance to shine, but looked promising in what flashes he had. Ditto for Dax McCarty. Benny Feilhaber still looks very out of sorts — he could well be another guy who had one good tournament only to be derailed by injury and club struggles. Last, Robbie Rogers was asked to play all over the field, and he did it. Give him marks for effort and versatility if nothing else.

FORWARDS: We've already mentioned McBride. How about Jozy Altidore? Well, again, in the biggest game, he failed to show. How much of that is due to the fact that he hasn't played very much because of his transfer to Villarreal, we'll never know. But, again, a "big-game" guy couldn't make it happen this time around. Charlie Davies didn't get much of a look, but what we saw of him was blistering.

THE COACH: Peter Nowak made some very questionable decisions. Pulling Adu in the Holland match was a fatal error that took away the Americans' ability to hold the ball and move forward in the decisive final 10 minutes. His over-age player choices are very debatable. The defense looked shaky all tournament long. And, most damningly, the team did not display the kind of tactical acumen the USA needs to succeed at the top level of play.

But every coach is defined by one thing: Wins. The USA went 1-1-1, and crashed out. We said that the minimum Nowak needed to keep his job was four points, and he got them. But we hope that the Federation realizes that this tournament was another lost opportunity, and that the team badly needs fresh ideas and fresh blood. U.S. Soccer should thank Nowak and move on.

RELATED: Former Olympian Kasey Keller will be announced as the newest member of the Seattle Sounders according to published reports today.

Heather O’Reilly scored the fastest goal in women’s Olympic soccer history today to lead the Americans to an easy 4-0 victory over New Zealand. With this convincing win, the USA locked up its berth in the quarterfinal round.

Because Norway lost 5-1 today to Japan, the USA took the top slot in the group and avoided playing Brazil in a quarterfinal game. The USA’s opponent will be Canada, a team the USA has beaten four times in this year alone and holds a lifetime edge of 37-3-3 against. (The USA drew 1-1 in Olympic qualifying on April 12th with Canada, but won 6-5 on kicks.)

That game will be played at Qinhuangdao at 6 am (EDT) Friday morning. Norway gets the misfortune of facing the Brazilians.

O’Reilly’s winner was scored from 35 yards out on a chip that caught keeper Jenny Bindon off her line and mysteriously unable to jump for the ball as it dipped under her bar. Coming just 41 seconds into the match, the goal set the tone for the game while also setting the record.

Said O'Reilly after the game, "In soccer, you say you want to score early and often and that’s what we did today, so I’m pretty happy about it.”

It was an assured performance from the USA, who played as expected against the weakest team in the group. Today, the things that were absent from their opener — the assured passing, the close control and the ability to impose their style on the game — were out in force against the Kiwis.

This was the American team that had been expected to show up in China, and while the level of their opponent was poor, the Americans took no chances and did what a good team is supposed to do. They buried the game from the opening kickoff and gave New Zealand no hope of mounting a comeback. New Zealand was never capable of sustained pressure, and the American midfielders quickly cut off any errant pass while also winning virtually every ball in the air.

“I think it’s fantastic that fact that we bounced back from the first 15 minutes against Norway," said coach Pia Sundhage. "You look at the first 15 minutes of that game to the last 15 minutes of this game and many things have happened. The whole team, and myself, has gained confidence every minute we’ve been together. The good part of this road is that we have experience both sides. Losing and winning, and that’s good going into the quarterfinals where it’s now or never.”

Amy Rodriguez got the insurance goal in the 43rd minute, latching on to a hopeful ball passed upfield by Rachel Buehler and blasting a low, left-footed shot into the net.

The match became a rout within three critical minutes in the second half:  Lindsay Tarpley got one in the 56th when Bindon was dragged out of position by Rodriguez and failed to get back to cover her net. O’Reilly had her initial shot blocked, but Tarpley latched onto it to bloop it into the unguarded net. Then, Lori Chalupny bounced one off the crossbar two minutes later, with Angela Hucles available to put it off Bindon’s despairing leap and into the net.

For coach Sundhage’s team this was the first indication that they have come to grips up front without injured Abby Wambach. While the attack looked static and somewhat confused in the first two games, there was a different pace and approach Tuesday and it paid dividends.

Sundhage was careful not to show too much gratitude at what now becomes a fairly routine path onwards for the Americans. "I wouldn’t put it as easier or harder (to face Canada instead of Brazil). It is different. I respect every team in this tournament. It would be arrogant for me to say one team is harder than another. The Canada match will be very hard, but still it is a challenging and a fun game.”

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Dovetailing somewhat with today’s game, WUSAII sent out a curious press release yesterday, announcing its “expansion” to Atlanta. (Let’s overlook the fact that it’s tough to expand something that doesn’t exist yet.) The team’s investor will be T. Fitz Johnson, the former CEO of Eagle International LLC, a consulting firm for hospitals and the military that was purchased by Lockheed in late April. Johnson will become one of the rare minority owners in American soccer.

In a statement, Johnson said: “WPS has proven itself to be a smart business venture, with a conservative business plan built on realistic numbers and executive leaders that not only know soccer as a sport, but as a business,” said Johnson.

But surely a man of Johnson’s acumen knows that his statement is wishful thinking at best. The new league is unproven, because it hasn’t started.  And, a look at WPS’ roll call shows a distinct lack of soccer business people. Only Peter Wilt, who is heading up the league’s marketing, has the combination of soccer experience and soccer business experience.

I have to wonder if these same “soccer business people” realize that announcements like these lessen the league’s credibility.

The USA threw away a win today in a critical group stage match against Holland, allowing a stoppage-time goal by Gerald Sibon to settle for a 2-2 draw. A bad foul by Stuart Holden on Sibon set up a free-kick 22 yards out that the forward kept on the floor as the wall jumped. The ball slipped past a rooted Brad Guzan.
     
The result tossed away best game the Americans had played in years, and it gets worse: both Michael Bradley and Freddy Adu picked up their second cautions of the tournament meaning that the USA will go into their final game against ####ia without their key midfielders.

####ia won today's earlier match against Japan, eliminating the Asians and setting up the possibility that three teams in the group could finish on five points. But, as the USA remains atop the group on goals scored, a draw against ####ia should be enough to take the Americans into the quarterfinals.
    
"It's tough," said coach Peter Nowak in the post-game poress conference. "As I told the guys in the locker room, that's the way the game goes sometimes. Not too many people gave us a chance tonight against the European champions, but we were very close to beating them."

It was a bitter coda to a game that the Americans had well in hand from the 15-minute mark on. Superb play from Adu, target man Brian McBride and midfielder Sacha Kljestan had helped lead the USA to a well-deserved 2-1 lead with 17 minutes left, but Holden's foolish challenge left the door wide open for the Dutch to come back.

"The one thing we’ve been doing is improving as we go along,"said McBride, "Tonight was a good game for us. We’re of course disappointed that they scored the equalizer, but we just need to make sure we get this out of our head and concentrate on the positives. When we’re together, we’re a good team.”
     
On a sloppy field soaked by a day of rain, the Dutch jumped out to an early lead against the run of play when Ryan Babel tucked in his own rebound after Johnathan De Guzman's cross found the Liverpool striker with space in the box. Looping the ball in over Maurice Edu, De Guzman's cross was parried into Brad Guzan, who made the first save, but Babel followed it with a short range blast that beat a helpless Michael Parkhurst on the line.
     
Early on, the Dutch were far more potent on the flanks, getting nice service from Roy Drenthe and forcing the U.S. midfield back to cover their wingbacks, Michael Orozco and Marvell Wynne. In fact, Orozco showed many of the same nerves that bedeviled him against Japan in the opener, but unlike then, he settled down and began both getting forward and making the key stops. Wynne was beaten repeatedly in what was an overall weak performance from the Toronto FC man.
     
But, after a fine individual run by Freddy Adu in the 17th minute that saw the petite playmaker round four Dutchmen, the Americans began to sense the truth: their opponents were not the Holland of legend, but rather an U-23 team wearing the Netherland's colors.

A flurry of chances ensued as the Americans began to press, with Holden taking a great chance on the volley in the 40th minute set up by McBride's touch. Dutch keeper Kenneth Vermeer made the first of a series of spectacular saves. Wynne would get a chance two minutes later but his cross, beating Vermeer, found no support.
     
The Americans emerged far sharper in the second half, with McBride putting a header on goal in the 50rth that Vermeer again had to parry over the bar. It was another fabulous effort by the Fire striker who saw little of the ball on the night overall, but made every single touch count.
     
Adu began to impress himself on the game and his effort led to the tying goal. Adu beat Kew Jaliens and left a ball for Klejstan in the 65th minute that the Chivas man calmly slotted right down the gut after eluding defenders with a neat left-to-right run.
     
Seven minutes later, sub Jozy Altidore put the Americans on top. Coming in for Robby Rogers, Altidore's size and speed made an immediate impact. Off a throw-in by Wynne, Orozco raced to the far post and cut the ball past Vermeer. Taking a deflection off Calvin Jong-a-Pin, the ball caromed off Altidore's knee and into the back of the net.
    
The Americans did not sit back, with Adu continuing to run down balls and playing into space. He received his critical booking in the 78th when he was over-enthusiastic one-on-one with Vermeer and left his studs up, felling the keeper.
    
That resulted in what may go down as a critical mistake made by coach Peter Nowak. Possibly worried about Adu getting another card, Nowak subbed the best player of the day for the still gimpy Benny Feilhaber. Adu was visibly perturbed by the move as he came off the field.
     
Without Adu pulling the strings, the Dutch suddenly found far more space in which to work, and began throwing bodies forward in an attempt to tie the game. Bradley took his card in the first minute of stoppage time for time-wasting, and the USA seemed rudderless and exhausted on the heavy pitch.
     
Holden's awful challenge gave the Dutch the opening they needed, and when McBride jumped in the wall, Sibon slipped the ball underneath him and into the net.

"Going into that situation, knowing it’s basically going to be the last chance of the game, as a goalkeeper you’ve got to trust the wall and unfortunately tonight the wall decided they were going to go up and over and they went under," sadi Guzan. "We jumped and he hit a screamer low and hard, and when that happens there’s not much chance as my main focus is the other side of the goal. Unfortunately, we just picked the wrong option tonight.”

The result leaves Nowak with some tough decisions: how does he line up the midfield without Adu and Bradley? Does he stick with his 4-4-2 formation or go for a more defensive look against ####ia knowing a draw should mean a quarterfinal berth?

And the Americans, too, will face a character test. Having worked so hard on a heavy field only to see a quarterfinal spot disappear, how will they manage the needed recovery, both physically and mentally?

The USA resuscitated their Olympic hopes today with a 1-0 win over Japan, thanks to a first-half goal by Carli Lloyd. The result moved the Americans into second place in Group G, behind Norway, who later in the evening would beat New Zealand 1-0. Group play will conclude Tuesday with the USA facing New Zealand.

The Americans looked more determined than they had in their opener, but no more assured. The defense is still scattershot, and while Hope Solo turned in a far more solid performance today, Japan was able to get to the byeline and spray the net far too often.

Fortunately for Solo and her backs, the Japanese failed to capitalize on their strengths, which are passing and movement. As usual, the USA played Route 1 soccer, and it did pay off. Lloyd's goal was well-taken, but it's notable that the cross from Stephanie Cox eluded four players before landing at Lloyd's feet. So often, that shot would have sailed over the bar. Today, unlike the 17 other shots that didn't, this one flashed in as if laser-guided.

That ratio is worrying, and coach Pia Sundhage admitted as much in her post-game remarks. "We are aware that we don't have the goal scorer." Amy Rodriguez, who is supposed to be that player, called her three howling misses "unfortunate."

Japan has never won against the USA, so it's no shock that the Americans were far less tense today. Solo had pointedly noted how nervous the team was before the opener, but today she allowed that things were much looser after a loss that she said made her "sick to her stomach."

Ironically, today's match showed that both the American women and their Japanese counterparts are approaching parity with their nations' men's teams. The Japanese women may not be wholly equal in their society, but they are just as adept as their male counterparts at finding new ways of failing to score. Likewise, the U.S. women are showing the same signs of wear and tear in the back that will be familiar to a generation grown used to defensive collapses by their men's national team.

This certainly isn't the equality Title IX was intended to produce. But it is revealing: American coaches have been so fixated for so long on athleticism at the expense of finesse that we now find ourselves with a surfeit of burly, knock and run players and a dearth of creative soccer talent. Neither the men nor the women have a player of vision or even the grasp of elemental tactics that would allow them to shift gears within a game.

With the men, that weakness is frequently exploited. With the women, it's oft camouflaged. One of the reasons the USWNT's record is so good is down to the fact that since so few teams are of any quality, it often does come down to the fact that a bigger, stronger team can outrun and out-muscle the other.

 But, for the women's game as a whole, it is ultimately a losing equation: Despite the fact that Norway showed very little in that opening win, they were able to seize opportunities when given them. That trait remains elusive for the USA and the women's game at large.

 Tuesday, the Americans are likely to punch their ticket against a poor New Zealand side that allowed Japan to crawl back to draw with a late collapse. Norway is already through and can rest players.

The USA got off to a perfect start today in the Olympic Games despite a mixed performance, beating Japan 1-0 while group rivals Holland and ####ia played to a 0-0 draw. The result saw the Americans go to the top of their group on a day filled with draws and sets up the USA for a run at the quarterfinals.

Stuart Holden was the unlikely goal-scorer, knocking in the winner in the 47th from a cross by Marvell Wynne that Hiroki Mizumoto deflected right to the Houston Dynamo midfielder. Keeper Shusaku Nishikawa got down but was screened on the shot by Takuya Honda and failed to hold it.

The result was both fortunate and instructive, for it showed that the Americans still have a long way to go to catch up with their rivals on the world stage. The USA got away with an average game thanks to the always-profligate Japan, who squandered a good hal####ozen chances in front of the American net and failed to capitalize on repeated defensive breakdowns.

Coach Peter Nowak admitted as much in the post-game press conference, saying "We still have a lot of improving to do, but we did some things very well tonight. This will be good for the players' confidence. We had a few lapses, and we need to learn from that in the next games."

Many of those lapses came in the back, which saw Maurice Edu sliding next to Michael Parkhurst in a somewhat unusual central defensive partnership. While this allowed Wynne to range forward, the back line never looked settled, and Japan was repeatedly able to pull Parkhurst forward out of position and pop the ball either past Edu or wingback Michael Orozco.

Atsuto Uchida exploited the space left between Orozco and midfielder Robbie Rogers early and often, setting up two gilt-edged chances for Japan in the 40th minute with Hiroyuki Taniguchi twice seeing an open net to shoot at, yet twice muffing the shot. Edu almost cost the Americans dearly when he got away with hauling down Taniguchi late in the game inside the box.

To be sure, it took both teams a good twenty minutes to settle, with opening day nerves and the world stage taking their toll. But Japan signaled their intention early with set play off a short corner kick in the 21st minute that caught the Americans napping. Masato Morishige, however, pushed the ball wide of Brad Guzan.

Freddy Adu, who is expected to be the playmaker for the American team, had a slow start as he struggled to extricate himself from three-man marking that often took his close-control skills out of the game. His frustration resulted in a needless caution — one of three cards the Americans collected on the evening — but as the game wore on, some flashes began to show. Part of that was due to the introduction of Jozy Altidore, coming on for Brian McBride. With the teen forward, Americans looked far more composed on offense, with Adu finally getting some support up top.

McBride, the 36-year-old target man who has not played a top level game since May and is making a return from international retirement to the Olympic team, had a very quiet night. He did not look sharp and frequently was pushed too far back to effectively run at Japan's net. And Michael Bradley, who still seems uncomfortable as a midfielder expected to dominate, had another in and out game, partnering well with Rogers and Sacha Kljestan but failing to relieve pressure on what became an overstretched defense.

The USA now must go into their next game against Holland with an eye on shoring up that defense. Parkhurst, who otherwise had an outstanding game, is being asked to cover too much ground, causing both Edu and Orozco to try to compensate too often. And, the communication between Orozco and Rogers — which left huge gaps that the Dutch wingmen can exploit — has to be improved.

The Olympics don't officially start until tomorrow, but there's already been plenty of action in the soccer world.

This morning, in a decision that may have far-reaching implications for the international sport, the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) handed down a surprise victory for three clubs that had challenged the release of their players to the Olympic tournament.

Barcelona, Schalke and Werder Bremen had all held players back from participating in the Olympic Games, arguing that the Olympic Games were not part of the international calendar. Last week, a FIFA-appointed judge dismissed that notion, setting up the appeal to the CAS. And today, the CAS agreed, saying that FIFA's postion was untenable.

In an official statement released on the CAS' website, the CAS wrote, "there is no specific decision of the Fifa executive committee establishing the obligation for the clubs to release players under 23 for this tournament".

The decision effectively overturned what the CAS itself termed as "a long lasting and undisputed practice which had become a customary law for the clubs."

The decision means that all three clubs do not have to allow their players to participate in the Olympic Games.

Moreover, clubs may now choose to recall some of their players currently in Beijing and if the players fail to report, they would be in violation of their contract.

Lionel Messi, the Barcelona star at the center of much of the controversy, is currently in China with Argentina and wass expected to start the opener against Ivory Coast. His status is now uncertain.


On the home front, the U.S. Women's national team got off to a rocky start, giving away two goals in the first five minutes of play in dropping their opener to Norway 2-0 at Qinhuangdao.

Leni Kaurin scored the opener after just a minute when Hope Solo came out and failed to collect a cross, colliding with defender Lori Chalupny in the process. It was a howler by Solo, who is under intense scrutiny at the Games because of her comments following the USA's elimination in the 2007 WWC at the hands of Brazil.

Three minutes later, Kate Markgraf gifted Norway its second, with a perfect back pass to opponent Melissa Wiik that beat her own back line and left Solo stranded.

The Americans never recovered, and played out a stuttering, listless game devoid of any composure.

The U.S. defense essentially sunk its own team today, and this is troubling because the back line is arguably the most experienced segment of the American team. Despite that, there was no push at all during the game by the American women to reclaim that lost ground: Players looked tired and adrift, and more often than not afraid to take the matters into their own hands.

Abby Wambach's pre-tournament loss (broken leg) is surely a handicap, but as these women are essentially full-time professionals. This team has to come up with some explanation as to why the ten other play makers and scorers on the team did next to nothing to recover from the dreadful start.

Because of the weakness of women's Olympic soccer, despite the loss the Americans are still expected to advance: They face Japan next, who rallied early in the day to a 2-2 draw with New Zealand.

ALSO: Our buddies at the SBJ have sent a reporter to cover the USA women. The verdict? Where's the press? Good stuff after the jump.

AND: In an article that is more notable for what it doesn't say than what it does, the Sacramento Bee writes about the WPL. Take a close read: You'll see despite some grand claims, no details are offered in this unintentionally illuminating piece.

Best comment: The claim that "[WUSA] failed because it had too much money.” (That gem from Jerry Zanelli, WPSL commissioner.)